A forum for those current students who are or may be transferring from one school to another. Post any questions, advice, or other transfer related comments here.

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wiglaf1228 wrote:There's no basis for saying that at all, but why not talk out of our asses some more. I hear schools like accepting libras as transfers, too!

I definitely wouldn't say no basis. Lots of people at my transfer school came from schools in the same market, I know transfers at other schools who have said the same, and, from my own experience, I was accepted to every transfer school I applied to on the same coast as my 1L school but rejected from every school in the midwest and opposite coast despite them being marginally easier admissions-wise. Obviously self-selection and numerous other factors are at play, but I think it's fair to say that when seeking transfer to a certain school, it generally helps to come from a 1L school within the same market.

Kaspian wrote:Thank you for the replies. So with a PS simply appeal to the strength of the school, making the transfer seem like a business decision, etc. The other places I was thinking of applying played to the local ties and desire to be in the city, but being in the same city kinda confounds that.

Thank you again

I posted this in another thread but I'll repost it here. There are obviously many ways to do it, but this is how I did my transfer personal statements:

- The first page was about why I went to law school, what I liked about law school, and what my career goals are. This page stayed the same for every school.

- The second page started with how the transfer school would help me reach my career goals. I'd usually cite simple stats from their website or leiter rankings about their placement in clerkships, biglaw, etc. Then I'd usually mention 1-2 clinics I'd want to do and 1-2 journals I'd be willing to join. You could also mention certain classes that you'd want to take as well. Then I finished with a concluding paragraph about how much I would like to study at _____ Law School.

Lots of people at my transfer school came from schools in the same market,

This provides zero evidence that schools prefer transfers from their own market.

I was accepted to every transfer school I applied to on the same coast as my 1L school but rejected from every school in the midwest and opposite coast despite them being marginally easier admissions-wise.

Lots of people at my transfer school came from schools in the same market,

This provides zero evidence that schools prefer transfers from their own market.

I was accepted to every transfer school I applied to on the same coast as my 1L school but rejected from every school in the midwest and opposite coast despite them being marginally easier admissions-wise.

Neither does this anecdote.

It's not no evidence. It's anecdotal evidence. Anecdotal evidence is better support for a conclusion than no evidence. We don't usually get detailed transfer admission statistics, so piecing together pieces of anecdotal evidence is sometimes all we have. If that's all we have available to offer advice, then using it is certainly warranted.

At my C/N school, the transfer students generally fall into two categories:-those from Tier 1 Law schools from all over the country-those from Tier 2/3 law schools that happen to all be from the NY area (NYLS, st. Johns, seton hall, hofstra)

Further 'anecdotal' (jackass) evidence that yes, it does help to be from the market area in some instances.

At my C/N school, the transfer students generally fall into two categories:-those from Tier 1 Law schools from all over the country-those from Tier 2/3 law schools that happen to all be from the NY area (NYLS, st. Johns, seton hall, hofstra)

Further 'anecdotal' (jackass) evidence that yes, it does help to be from the market area in some instances.

I notice your post, in addition to name-calling, does not specify how many transfer students at your school come from the first tier 'from all over the country.' I suspect it's quite a few less than came from local Tier 2/3 schools (since very few people from T1 would bother transferring to C/N), thus skewing your sample size and making your 'anecdotal evidence' largely irrelevant.

So, again, all this helps prove is that there's a lot of self-selection in the transfer process. It should shock no one that people are more likely to want to transfer to a better school close to them, rather than relocate across the country twice in two years just to go to a better law school.

Your post does less than nothing to prove or even suggest that admissions officers look more favorably on local applicants. The fact you and people in this thread cannot see this makes it obvious why you probably had to transfer --- logic games likely were not your thing.

Going to a Local School: I am very tempted to say that going to a local school gives you a small boost (Loyola ->UCLA; Hastings -> Berkeley; Temple/Villanova -> Penn; American -> GULC; Brooklyn -> NYU/Columbia, etc). I realize that top schools often receive more applications from local schools, but my gut instinct here seems to notice this small pattern of favoritism.

Should I touch on my love of the current market or anything to really tie me to here? Should there be any mention of such a move being a business decision, for professional and OCI purposes, etc?

You really seem intent on asking for speculation, don't you? For what it's worth, talking about your "love of the current market" (what does that even mean? are the trees the right height there?) and making the application into a "business decision" seems like something Mitt Romney would do. Whether that's good or bad depends on how much you want to be like Mitt Romney. QED.

Kaspian wrote:So, far the best way to do so is to focus on my strengths and background in the first part and then merely talk about the specifics of the school that make it so desirable? Should I touch on my love of the current market or anything to really tie me to here? Should there be any mention of such a move being a business decision, for professional and OCI purposes, etc?

I actually try to make my posts constructive (cough cough), so I'll actually answer this. If you discuss career placement stats and how the transfer school will help you reach your career goals then I think it's unnecessary to to say stuff about how it's a "business decision." No harm in including your love of your current market though.

At my C/N school, the transfer students generally fall into two categories:-those from Tier 1 Law schools from all over the country-those from Tier 2/3 law schools that happen to all be from the NY area (NYLS, st. Johns, seton hall, hofstra)

Further 'anecdotal' (jackass) evidence that yes, it does help to be from the market area in some instances.

I notice your post, in addition to name-calling, does not specify how many transfer students at your school come from the first tier 'from all over the country.' I suspect it's quite a few less than came from local Tier 2/3 schools (since very few people from T1 would bother transferring to C/N), thus skewing your sample size and making your 'anecdotal evidence' largely irrelevant.

So, again, all this helps prove is that there's a lot of self-selection in the transfer process. It should shock no one that people are more likely to want to transfer to a better school close to them, rather than relocate across the country twice in two years just to go to a better law school.

Your post does less than nothing to prove or even suggest that admissions officers look more favorably on local applicants. The fact you and people in this thread cannot see this makes it obvious why you probably had to transfer --- logic games likely were not your thing.

I love it when people think snark suffices for an argument. I shouldn't be surprised though since it seems to be all anyone offers in this thread. Do you have any actual, real, not-made-up data that even suggests how many people from T1 go to C/N relative to T2-T3?

wiglaf1228 wrote:Do you have any actual, real, not-made-up data that even suggests how many people from T1 go to C/N relative to T2-T3?

Quite a few T1 transfers feed into these schools (I know several). There are enough CCN transfers on here that I'm sure someone can provide an estimate of their class breakdown if you really don't believe it.

C/N take, what, 40 transfers each? Likely less than 5 or 6 come from T1. It's certainly not more than 10.

Some proof that is actually grounded in reality: CLS posted a list of transfers back in 2008. All of them pretty much came from T2 schools. CLS has since removed the list on its site, but here's a comment thread noting this: --LinkRemoved--